Abstract: Objective To investigate the feasibility and safety of robotic-assisted rectal cancer radical resection. Methods The clinical data of 179 patients with rectal cancer who underwent robotic-assisted radical resection using da Vinci^® Robotic Surgical System in this hospital from September 2015 to January 2018 were retrospectively analyzed including 100 cases with the distal margin of tumor above peritoneal reflection and 79 cases below peritoneal reflection. Results All cases had robotic-assisted rectal cancer radical resection successfully. A total of 158 cases had radical resection with anus preservation. Both rectal cancer and hepatic metastasis were resected in 4 cases with stage Ⅳ. Mean operative time was（154±; 44） minutes and median blood loss was 50 mL with mean harvested lymph nodes of 15.4±; 5.4. Liquid diet recovered（4.0±; 2.1） days after operation. Mean hospital stay was（7.6±; 3.1） days postoperatively. There were 5 cases (2.79%) with surgical complications as anastomotic leak recovered without surgical intervention. Learning curve analysis showed that passing learning curve was 17 cases later. Conclusions It was indicated that robotic-assisted rectal cancer radical resection is feasible and safe combined with minimal invasion and fast recovery.

Key words: Rectal cancer, Radical resection, Robotic surgery